Following the opposition’s victory over Jalal Talabani’s party in Sulaymani and the Change List’s strong showing in Erbil and the traditional Barzani stronghold of Duhok, violence broke out last night as Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic party reportedly targeted supporters of the opposition. The following is a press release issued by Noshirwan Mustafa, leader of the opposition:

It was with great anticipation the people of Kurdistan awaited the day of 25/07/2009 so that they could vote in a free and fair election which would determine the nature of the forthcoming parliament and presidency. We hoped that these elections would take the KRG out of the black list it was placed in after the elections of 2005. However, with great regret after 3pm on the day of the election the governing powers began election rigging in a systematic and widespread manner in the cities and surrounding areas of Erbil and Dohuk with the intention of preempting victory. This undemocratic step completely changed the result of the elections to benefit the governing powers.
On the day of the election at 9pm under the guise of celebrations the KDP, governmental, intelligence, and armed forces, attacked the offices of the Change List in the cities of Erbil and Dohuk. A proportion of them were looted and taken over, whilst the others were fired upon. This was most extreme in the city of Dohuk where KDP forces attacked the homes of Change List supporters (reformists), intimidating and harassing them. This included the residence of a candidate of the Change Gorran List (Abdul Wahid Yasin Saed) who at 4am 27/07/2009 for the safety of his family was forced to leave the city of Dohuk for Suleimaniyah. In addition to these acts in these two cities KNN offices were surrounded by armed forces who proceeded to fire gun-shots at the offices in attempt to intimidate, scare and provoke KNN staff.

In addition, the Independent High Election Commission appears to have ignored and refused to investigate allegations of ballot stuffing and KDP security-force intimidation in Barzan and Erbil.